oooo ... sore back ...oowww
I may have over-done it yesterday.
I have the first thirteen episodes of an exercise show called "Shimmy". FitTV is currently airing the second half of the series, so I'm taping them. But I have noticed that the aired programmes sometimes cut the warm-up portion of the show sooo ...
I decided to do one episode from the first half before I do anything that's showing on tv in real time. Except ...
I wanted to check that the episode from the previous day taped all right so I did that one after doing the first season work-out. And then ...
And then I followed along with the episode that was airing that day.
Three belly-dance exercise programmes in a row. I figured that it came down to only an hour of exercise - what harm could that do? Apparently, I'm just not respecting the dance enough.
They call it belly-dance, but most of the upper torso and abdominal movements use back muscles. Hip isolation movements depend on leg muscles which can be their own special joy of pain. I'm finding that my knee pain is reduced when I focus on my back and hips - getting them aligned correctly, moving them fluidly. The belly-dance helps with that. Frequently during the teaching portion of each episode the instructor will remind the viewer to "soften knees, tilt hips, lengthen back, lift breasts, relax shoulders". These days, when I'm standing for any length of time, I'll find myself doing that automatically - it really does relieve the strain on the lower back.
And even though I'm complaining, I plan to do another three episodes of the programme again today. As Albreacht always said in the Arrows of the Queen trilogy (by Mercedes Lackey), when your muscles ache from doing something, the best thing for them is to do it again the next day. (A paraphrase, I don't remember the exact quote).
One last thing ... Something that really pleases me about belly-dance is that you always start with the left. It's a minor thing but ... you see ... I'm left footed. Which means in Scottish Country Dance, I'm always off on the wrong foot. It is satisfying to practice a dance where I'm on the right foot when I'm on the left.
I have the first thirteen episodes of an exercise show called "Shimmy". FitTV is currently airing the second half of the series, so I'm taping them. But I have noticed that the aired programmes sometimes cut the warm-up portion of the show sooo ...
I decided to do one episode from the first half before I do anything that's showing on tv in real time. Except ...
I wanted to check that the episode from the previous day taped all right so I did that one after doing the first season work-out. And then ...
And then I followed along with the episode that was airing that day.
Three belly-dance exercise programmes in a row. I figured that it came down to only an hour of exercise - what harm could that do? Apparently, I'm just not respecting the dance enough.
They call it belly-dance, but most of the upper torso and abdominal movements use back muscles. Hip isolation movements depend on leg muscles which can be their own special joy of pain. I'm finding that my knee pain is reduced when I focus on my back and hips - getting them aligned correctly, moving them fluidly. The belly-dance helps with that. Frequently during the teaching portion of each episode the instructor will remind the viewer to "soften knees, tilt hips, lengthen back, lift breasts, relax shoulders". These days, when I'm standing for any length of time, I'll find myself doing that automatically - it really does relieve the strain on the lower back.
And even though I'm complaining, I plan to do another three episodes of the programme again today. As Albreacht always said in the Arrows of the Queen trilogy (by Mercedes Lackey), when your muscles ache from doing something, the best thing for them is to do it again the next day. (A paraphrase, I don't remember the exact quote).
One last thing ... Something that really pleases me about belly-dance is that you always start with the left. It's a minor thing but ... you see ... I'm left footed. Which means in Scottish Country Dance, I'm always off on the wrong foot. It is satisfying to practice a dance where I'm on the right foot when I'm on the left.